Getting rid of algae(?) between polyps

[frootbat]

I have a zoa frag that has what appears to be hair algae growing between polyps. I have tried pulling it with tweezers but it just grows back. Is there a dip mixture i can use to kill this stuff without killing the zoas? Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

yes peroxide is perfect for that

 

get new bottle of 3%

 

dilute X amount of it with 50% saltwater

 

put frag in that 2 mins

 

take out rinse put back in tank

 

instead of dipping, some would take a q tip and dab that dilution onto the bad parts only, like a paintbrush both will work. pretty much any way you contact peroxide to that algae it will kill the algae, and zos are very tough against peroxide due to their thick fleshy polyp.

if you do this, it will take 48 hours and then the polyp will have no algae on it, totally gone. dont remove any while it dies...can you take pics in this thread of the after shot (which probably w work in 20 hours actually) if you use this method? I want to link this thread to a new peroxide thread if you do use the method. we collect before and after pics in them, see the disease and pest forum here for more examples.

[frootbat]

I've got a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the medicine cabinet. I'll go ahead and dip it tonight, and I'll take another picture 48 hours later and post it here.

 

Thanks!!!

[brandon429]

the q tip method is safer and faster and you dont have to dilute it, just dip q tip in bottle, lift out frag, apply it to the algae (press in between the polyps lightly) wait one min then put back in tank, dont even bother rinsing.

 

both methods work, but this one is preferable because it follows the specific hierarchy w peroxide dosing: least impactful done first.

 

with zo's you can't hardly go wrong, but its better discipline to not expose polyps to any treatment really, when polyps aren't the target. q tip lessens impact to polyps, maximizes impact to algae.

 

its going to be fast though, algae w prob die overnite

thanks for our first potential entry into a new bazillion page peroxide thread on singapore reef club

[frootbat]

Sure thing, I'll do the q-tip method tonight instead.

[pismo_reefer]

You better take pics....

[frootbat]

Gave it the swab treatment last night, will snap a new pic tonight after work.

[Gooburz]

Just so you know with the peroxide treatment your zoa might be pissed for a few days and not open but don't worry they will be ok.

[doppelganger]

yes peroxide is perfect for that

 

get new bottle of 3%

 

dilute X amount of it with 50% saltwater

 

put frag in that 2 mins

 

take out rinse put back in tank

 

instead of dipping, some would take a q tip and dab that dilution onto the bad parts only, like a paintbrush both will work. pretty much any way you contact peroxide to that algae it will kill the algae, and zos are very tough against peroxide due to their thick fleshy polyp.

 

if you do this, it will take 48 hours and then the polyp will have no algae on it, totally gone. dont remove any while it dies...can you take pics in this thread of the after shot (which probably w work in 20 hours actually) if you use this method? I want to link this thread to a new peroxide thread if you do use the method. we collect before and after pics in them, see the disease and pest forum here for more examples.

 

Peroxide does definitely work great on zoas. sorry to hijack but since I have brandon's attention... brandon, u ever try any sort of peroxide on a monti cap? I have this monti frag that died off due to whatever reasons and there's still patches of it still alive. Most of the dead skeleton is covered with algae so I was thinking of just dunking the whole thing into some sort of solution tho I'm not sure if monti's have ever survived any sort of peroxide dips. Hard for whatever's remaining to make a comeback if it's smothered in algae.

[brandon429]

yes in our rc thread we have for sure, a cap. buried in too many pages

 

its a good talk for this thread due to the similarities in treatment and approaching the goal of cleaning half lost corals so they dont infect your tank.

 

but again we q tip it, in every scenario out of 1000 i envision how not to touch the good polyps to the chem

 

and then most of the time they want to dump it in their tank so we calculate safety measures for that raunchyness heh but in this case of lifted out, external treatments, you should see these pics of this guys expensive scolymia half recessed, white septa showing on half bearing a lot of green hair algae and on the other half the rest of the polyp holding on...pics show q tip method before and after as shocking. then he feeds mysis and blenderized silversides for two months and brings it back. it is lopsided polyp as LPS and SPS do not move back into vacated polyps...rather, you are clearing that algae real estate back to clean so the flesh can overgrow cleanly the old corallite boundaries and lay down new skeletal material on top of it. once fully healed and inflated a year later, you can't tell.

 

so lift that bad boy out, or drain the tank down to the cap level to access it out of water and do the deed man, w pics of course thanks for stopping in

 

by removing the algae you remove a seed source for other areas of the tank, and you allow what is healthy on the coral to live next to prime growth real estate this time having no allelochemicals from the algae to fight new growth.

[doppelganger]

cool thx for the info

[Boggers]

I recommend the treatment now to anyone having an algae issue. Has worked great for me several times.

[brandon429]

something funny

 

in our big peroxide threads (search google for pico reef pest algae challenge thread) we talked a lot with detractors about using it as a bandaid. To that I responded with a pic of a real bandaid on my pristinely clean pico reef and that was funny, to me.

 

 

I dont care one bit if its a bandaid or a boomerang, watch these follow up pics by tonite or tomorrow it w only take about 24 hours for his zo plug to be clean, as long as his bottle wasnt flat when he applied the h202

 

 

we must ask ourselves if we are willing to trade off a clean, algae free tank for a label that makes us look lazy. Me? for sure.

if someone told me that dumping used motor oil in my reef would cheat, and remove the algae, and they had a giant thread proving it Id already be on my drain plug as we speak.

 

I used to care what people thought, now I just reef clean and w great cheat. I told the detractors I thought their skimmers was cheating. the ocean may have a skimming effect, but there is no skimmer. The ocean also produces measurable hydrogen peroxide in the water as a result of photosynthetic metabolism, so touche lol./

[Boggers]

Far less harmful to me than raising your MAG and not testing it, lights out for days, attempting manual removal and it spreading everywhere...ect

 

I had a rock COVERED in turf it was growing over any coral on or near it....now it is nice and clean.

[frootbat]

Here's today's picture. Looks like most of it is gone. I can see a strand of it to the far right, but much better than yesterday. Not sure what the clear thing is on the left, though. Naturally they aren't too happy with me

 

[drew11588]

did you use straight 3% H2O2 on a qtip?

[frootbat]

Yup. Reading back I realize I screwed up. I thought it was dip in 50/50 or qtip with straight up hydrogen peroxide. I guess I need to brush up on my reading skills.

[brandon429]

its ok they will not die

 

I put 35% peroxide directly on zos I wanted dead, left them soaking for 15 mins, and they were back in 3

 

we have had zo's die during peroxide treatment but there were outstanding factors that I dont see as a concern here.

 

notice the hydrodynamic profile of your zos. short, compact, colonial, as it should be. save for a little invader, wherever you got that frag from was basically good housing.

 

contrast that to someone's zo's when they finally show up for peroxide treatment, the zos are individual stalks, long and skinny, separated at the base, indicating some time in an angry state. thats not the natural morphology of zos, its the morphology of zo's who were on their way out and then a chemical insult + lame tank conditions did them in. two very different etiologies for death of zos

 

 

 

That frag base should be white it looks to have cyano or something in the tiny crevices

Retreat it imo so it doesn't have any seed material (not literal seeds just areas for algae origination)

You should be set. I use what you just did anywhere in my reef with peroxide 20x stronger than you just used and plan to until it stops working or something more predictable and effective comes along.

B

[frootbat]

A photo from this morning...looks like that almost all of the hair algae is gone. there *may* be one little strand left in the lower right of the photo. This was taken just after the lights came on, so the zoas hadn't opened fully yet.